After a poor showing from Auburn football in a 31-13 loss to Maryland at the Music City Bowl, first-year coach Hugh Freeze explained that he didn't spend as much time on the offensive game plan vs. the Terrapins, opting instead to focus on the Tigers' recruiting.

Auburn faced a 21-0 deficit in the first quarter before getting on the board. The team also committed four turnovers and had only 300 yards of total offense in the loss. After the game, Freeze was asked to assess the team's failed game plan.

"Well, obviously I don't feel like it was an effective one," Freeze said. "I didn't get too involved in it for most of the part until this week because of recruiting, and really wanted to kind of evaluate everything about our program."

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Continued Freeze:

"We didn't run the ball. It starts there. We have to go look at the run schemes that we had, and did we not play hard up front? It's really hard for me to tell. But they really dominated the line of scrimmage against us. They did load the box now. They forced us to — they had extra hats in the box for sure, and that's when you've got to be able to throw it some. But we didn't protect the passer real well. It wasn't all the O-line. Sometimes the backs didn't get the protection right. But anytime you struggle like we did, it's not — I don't feel like the plan was great."

Freeze was not wrong in his assessment. The Tigers struggled to gain any rhythm in the run game, with 35 carries resulting in just 76 yards. The Terrapins defensive line also came up with three sacks and four tackles for loss, holding held Auburn to 4 of 17 on third down conversion attempts.

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Freeze did find success in the recruiting portal, however, with the Tigers signing 18 recruits for the 2024, ranking No. 7 nationally. Their team score of 282.19 from 247Sports Composite Rankings is the second-highest in program history in the modern recruiting era.

While Auburn's class doubtless gives it the players needed to build the Tigers into a contender in the SEC, that doesn't negate the loss to the Terrapins for the 2023 team: It gives the Tigers three straight defeats and their third consecutive losing season heading into the offseason.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Hugh Freeze 'didn't get too involved' in Auburn game plan vs. Maryland